


Genius Next Door

by Blueskyportrait



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Demigods (Percy Jackson), Alternate Universe - No Gods (Percy Jackson), Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, M/M, One Shot, Song fic, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-16 17:48:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16499921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blueskyportrait/pseuds/Blueskyportrait
Summary: Over the years I grew up in this town there has been multiple rumors about the local lake about half a mile away.





	Genius Next Door

Over the years I grew up in this town there has been multiple rumors about the local lake about half a mile away. One of the more fantastical rumors was that the lake was enchanted while the most practical was that it just turned out the way it was because of the weather. No one knows why the lake has turned so thick it’s like putting your hand through half melted butter.

The lake didn’t have an official name so the adults called it the Porridge. It was supposed to be a joke but the name stuck ever since it was conceived. I remember my mom telling me when I was younger to not go near the Porridge, but every other day after school my friends and I would sneak over there to swim. We didn’t think it was much of a big deal. Sure it was a bit difficult to move around in and it tasted funny whenever we accidentally swallow the water but didn’t hurt us.

As I grew older I visited the Porridge less and less. It became a playground for drunk teenagers my age who want a quick fuck somewhere quiet and secluded in the nearby woods. Poor kids wouldn’t be able to enjoy themselves without having to avoid stepping on broken beer bottles and finding cigarette butts. The Porridge seems to have lost its innocence.

I make my way to the nearby dinner down the street. Nico was there busing tables, picking up dishes and cleaning the mess the previous customer had left. “Hey,” Nico looks up, a tired smile plays at his thin lips. “Hey to you.”

“Are you busy?” I ask as I lean over a chair. “Oh no, not at all,” Nico says sarcastically. I chuckle. “Place looks a bit deserted. Slow day?” Nico rolls his eyes. He takes his tub of dishes and disappears into the kitchen. He comes back out ten minutes later and takes a seat across the table from me. “Did you finish your English homework that’s due this coming Monday?” I sigh dramatically. “No. I hate reading out of the textbook and writing open ended answers. Too much think and analyzing. What about you?” Nico just hums nonchalantly, so I assumed he didn’t bother either.

“So how’s the family?”  
“My dad is still trying to find a job. It’s been hard ever since he lost his law firm.”  
“Yeah I can only imagine.”

I tentatively reach out for his hand, my fingers brushing against his. He turns his hand over and takes mine into his. “I’ve recently read this fable about the Lady of the Lake. It reminded me of the Porridge and how we used to swim there. Remember how our friends said that it was magic?” I smile fondly. “Yeah. Why bring this up? Do you think she lives there?”

Nico shrugs a shoulder. “She could be. Though, I wouldn’t know why she would relocate her home here out of all places.” “Maybe she wanted a change of scenery?” Nico smiles, shaking his head. “Well, I bet she’d be sorely disappointed, because there’s nothing to see here.” Nico gets up from the table. He leans forward a presses a kiss to my cheek. “I’ll see after work Percy.”

*****

About a year ago Nico lost his sister Bianca. She went hiking with a couple of friends one summer day. She lost her footing on a steep hill and fell down, cracking her head against a tree trunk.The di Angelo family was devastated, but Nico seemed to have taken it the hardest.

It was strange to not see Bianca anymore. It was like someone cut her out of a photo and you’re just aware that she was missing from the whole picture. I felt it, Nico felt it, his family felt it, our friends felt it. But it seemed like the rest of town didn’t notice.

I remember some people giving condolences to Nico, Hades, and Maria, but they felt empty. Like it was an obligation they must give. They repeated the same thing, like how Bianca was beautiful and that her time was too short. Nico didn’t believe them to be genuine and I agreed with him. They didn’t know his sister like he did.

Nico didn’t leave his room for a month after Bianca died. Whenever I came by to visit he looked like a husk of his former self. Dark circles under his eyes, his hair disheveled, his face thinning from not eating. I felt powerless. I didn’t know how to help him. The best I could do was to be there for him.

Few weeks goes by and Nico took up an interest in old fairy tales, the Brothers Grimm kind. He would sometimes read them out loud to me while we lay in his bed, his back against my chest, my arms encircled around his waist. His favorite was Anderson’s The Little Mermaid. “It’s sadder and more sinister than the Disney version,” He said, “But she gets her wish in the end. She finally received a soul and goes to Heaven.” “I think I prefer Ariel a bit more.” Nico chuckles. “Of course you do babe.”

*****

Nico sneaks into my bedroom through the window later that night. I always keep it unlocked in case he decides to visit whenever. Before I could speak a word his lips her on mine. “I want you to take me tonight,” was all he said as he crawled on top of me on my bed.

I was surprised he wanted to go slow, saying that he wanted to make it last as long as possible. I didn’t mind it at all. As long I get to be with him, to hear his pleas and to mark his skin while he claws at my back.

We lay in bed after a while, his fingers tracing patterns on my chest while I combed my fingers through his dark hair. “Remember how I mentioned the Lady of the Lake earlier today?” He said after a long comfortable silence. “Yeah? What about her?” “Before she gave Arthur the sword Excalibur, she made him promise to fulfil a favor for her once she gives it to him. He agrees and he receives the legendary weapon. Later on in the story she requests Arthur for her favor, to have the head of one of his knights Sir Balin, for murdering her brother. Arthur refused and the Lady of the Lake instead gets beheaded by Sir Balin.”

“That kind of sucks,” was all I could say. Nico just shrugs. “I feel bad for her. She wanted her brother to be avenged. And Arthur promised for her favor to be fulfilled, but he failed to uphold his end of the deal.” He shifts his attention to me, his eyes glancing into mine. “Sometimes I wish there was something I could do to make sure Bianca’s death wasn’t in vain. That her life was worth something.”

Nico buries his face into the crook of my neck. “My parents are working so hard to make ends meet. Sometimes I feel like I’m a burden. The dinner doesn’t pay much and dad refuses to take the money I make. I don’t know what else to do.” I wasn’t sure what to say and I wish I could speak more than enough to keep Nico’s mind at ease. “You can make it. I’ll help you however I can.” I could feel Nico smile against me.

He moves away a bit and reaches for the silver skull ring on his left pointer finger. “Before I forget, I want you to have this. Something to make up for not be able to afford anything to get you for our two year anniversary last week.” “Nico...I…” This was the last gift Bianca has given him. I couldn’t possibly…

“I know you’ll take good care of it,” said Nico and kisses my lips as he slips the ring on my right ring finger. It fitted perfectly.  
“I love you Percy.”  
“I love you, my genius next door.”

*****

The next morning I wake up to an empty bed. Nico must left earlier in the morning. Next to my pillow was a folded piece of paper. I open it up and it was a torn page of a book, the last page of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid. It described when the mermaid threw herself into the ocean after refusing to kill the prince she fell in love with and waited to turn into seafoam. She realized she didn’t completely disappear and has become a daughter of the air. Other spirits like her told her because of her sacrifice she can have a chance to gain an immortal soul and go to Heaven by performing good deeds.

I turn the page over and there was something written on the back. _‘It’s not your fault’_ was written in Nico’s graceful cursive. I didn’t understand what he meant by that, so I put the page under my pillow and got up to get dressed.

I was walking down the street to visit Nico at his work. I passed by a dumpster and something caught my eye. Upon closer inspection I saw Nico’s shirt and pants hanging over the edge of the dumpster, his shoes placed in front of it. A sense of foreboding made my heart sink. I called Hades and asked if Nico was home. He said no. I didn’t know what made me head for the Porridge but something in the back of my mind told me to go there. I called the local police and told them to go over there and that it’s an emergency.

I prayed that I have to be wrong, that I’m just paranoid, I’m overthinking. I ran through the trees willing for my feet to go faster. The Porridge came into view and I stopped right at the edge of the shore. My hands claw through my hair as I tears my eyes away, pacing back and forth. _‘Please let me be wrong. Please let me wrong. Please, please, please, please!’_

*****

The reporters from the nearby city come over the next day. I watch them stand in front of the di Angelo household, their cameras pointing at the crying face of Maria and the grief stricken Hades. It was announced that Nico’s funeral will be held the next day. He was to be buried next to Bianca.

As I walk down the main square of town, I took notice of the people around me. The garbage man was dumping trash into his garbage truck, adults driving to work, teenagers stumbling around from last night’s hungover. A guy I knew from school walked past me with his friends and I heard him say “May God have mercy on di Angelo’s soul,” with sarcasm and a couple of his friends chuckle nervously.

It made me sick. No one seemed to notice, or even care that Nico di Angelo is gone for good. I can no longer go anywhere without thinking of him. Of where we hanged out after school, where he had his first knee scrape when Bianca was teaching him how to ride a bike, where we had our first kiss. I clutch onto his silver skull ring, the only thing tangible that proved that Nico existed, that he was there with me on his last night.

*  
*  
*

_If you just hold in your breath ‘til you come back up in full..._

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Regina Spektor's Genius Next Door


End file.
